Luceat!

“Brothers, we most truly serve the common good by having the courage to be disciples of Jesus Christ. God gave us a free will, but we need to use it. Discipleship has a cost. Jesus never said that we didn’t need a spine. The world doesn’t need affirmation. It needs conversion. It doesn’t need the approval of Catholics. It needs their witness. And that work needs to begin with us.”

When our faith is brought up in the public spotlight, it is not a time for us to apologize but to witness.  The Church has been given the gift of the fullness of the truth.  Often we feel like we are pushing our opinion on others or that we live in a society of low self esteem, so more affirmation must be the answer. 

For Archbishop Chaput this is not the answer.  As he said in his article, people are empty.  ”The tidal wave of our toys, from iPods to the internet, is equally effective in getting us to ignore history and ignore our own emptiness.”  He is not saying that iPods and the internet are bad, but that they are becoming a distracting for what we are truly made for, the worship of Almighty God. 

We are empty without God.  Everyone is empty without God.  It is a universal truth!  As Augustine said in his Confessions, “Our hearts are restless, O God, until they rest in you.”  It is time for us to be heroic in a world that is in desperate need for heroes.  This is all Chaput is doing.  He is calling the Church to a state of heroism, simply he is calling all to holiness. 

Holiness is the task of every person.  Holiness cannot be held to oneself.  A person striving after holiness will have to share his or her faith with others.  He or she will not sit back and let their Love be trampled on.  “Jesus never said that we didn’t need a spine.”  You are the light of the world.  Be not afraid to let your light shine in its darkness.